Columbia vs UPenn-ME

[yyemperor]

Dilemma...

I was accepted offer of admissions to the MS programs in Mechanical Engineering at Columbia University and at University of Pennsylvania. I'm good at Solid Mechanics.

Getting high income and high salary job in industry or in finance and consulting is my goal. My plan is that some years down the road I will go for MBA in Harvard Business School.

Which one should I choose?

UPenn

Pros:

1.For career: "One university" policy allows me to take courses in Wharton!

2.Ranking: little Higher than that of Columbia

UPenn : No.7 for colleges ; No.29 for Mechanical Engineering

Columbia: No.8 for colleges; No.32 for Mechanical Engineering(according to "US News & World Report")

3.Ivy League

Cons:

1.Reputation: Not as famous as Columbia around the World!!!

2.For career: not strong in engineering, its school of engineering has only a short history

3.City: a Boring city ! Expecially when comparing to New York!

4.Accepatance rate is too high!!! About 16.9%!!! while in Columbia is only 10%

Columbia

Pros:

1.For career: the university helps every Master student in Mecanical Engineering to get an internship and maybe a job...

2.Oppotunities: there are much more interviews in New York

3.Ivy Leagure;Small Program where student-faculty ratio is about 7 to 1, therefore professors have more time to "deal with me"

4.Faculty members in the department have received outstanding Teaching Awards.

Cons:

1.Not strong in engineering either

2.New York is wonderful but it is also dangerous and so wonderful that can easily distract people from their study.

Could you give me some advice?

[TulipOHare]

Well, your pros and cons for both are the same except that you think Philly's boring, Penn's name isn't big enough, Penn's too loosey-goosey about who it lets in, and a department that was founded in 1893 isn't old enough. Sounds like you'd better go to Columbia.

[yyemperor]

Well, your pros and cons for both are the same except that you think Philly's boring, Penn's name isn't big enough, Penn's too loosey-goosey about who it lets in, and a department that was founded in 1893 isn't old enough. Sounds like you'd better go to Columbia.

Haha, thx a lot They are almost the same except in different cities and that's why I felt difficult to make a decision...

[nickelsaur]

Hey yyemporor,

I'm actually a Penn ME undergrad right now so I thought I'd give my input on its program. I can't say anything for Columbia but at least I can let you know a bit more about Penn's ME.

The Wharton advantage you listed is definitely true.. many engineers (undergrad at least) come here dualling in majors with Wharton because it's obviously a very good opportunity. There's a pretty good grad program in both engineering and wharton here called ENTM, if you haven't checked it out maybe you should!

It's true Penn doesn't have a big name in engineering. But I actually think its ME has a very up and coming program. In the few years I've been here the ME department has been making huge turn arounds, and it seems to be restructuring its program to be more like stanford's. I don't have much personal experience with solid mechanics except to say that i had a good undergrad class, so I can't say much for what the grad program and research is going to be like. But imo the ME program here definitely has a forte in robotics, which has been acquiring new faculty lately and making sizeable impacts in the field. And in general, i've seen that student-faculty relationships are such that you'd have no problem at all finding alot of professors to 'deal with you', esp for grad students. i think you'll find yourself surrounded with very dedicated and interested faculty.

And as for Philly.. true.. pretty boring city. Unless, you like food and the arts, then you'll find yourself suitably entertained. (although NY obviously still > Philly on these fronts) But then again NY is also $20 and 2 hours away, and i personally go there often enough. Cons are that if you're not looking at Columbia because its 'dangerous'.. you'll have the same problem in philly what with its sharing borders with west philly. nooot the safest place. annnd it is unfortunately true that no one around the world really knows what 'penn' is unless you say 'wharton'. But, in conclusion, i've definitely enjoyed my time in the ME program here, and i personally extremely appreciated the kind of academic basis it gave me, with the balance of focus in labs and in depth theory. but the surroundings have worn me down enough to say i'm glad to leave for west coast grad school next year.

[yyemperor]

Hey yyemporor,

I'm actually a Penn ME undergrad right now so I thought I'd give my input on its program. I can't say anything for Columbia but at least I can let you know a bit more about Penn's ME.

The Wharton advantage you listed is definitely true.. many engineers (undergrad at least) come here dualling in majors with Wharton because it's obviously a very good opportunity. There's a pretty good grad program in both engineering and wharton here called ENTM, if you haven't checked it out maybe you should!

It's true Penn doesn't have a big name in engineering. But I actually think its ME has a very up and coming program. In the few years I've been here the ME department has been making huge turn arounds, and it seems to be restructuring its program to be more like stanford's. I don't have much personal experience with solid mechanics except to say that i had a good undergrad class, so I can't say much for what the grad program and research is going to be like. But imo the ME program here definitely has a forte in robotics, which has been acquiring new faculty lately and making sizeable impacts in the field. And in general, i've seen that student-faculty relationships are such that you'd have no problem at all finding alot of professors to 'deal with you', esp for grad students. i think you'll find yourself surrounded with very dedicated and interested faculty.

And as for Philly.. true.. pretty boring city. Unless, you like food and the arts, then you'll find yourself suitably entertained. (although NY obviously still > Philly on these fronts) But then again NY is also $20 and 2 hours away, and i personally go there often enough. Cons are that if you're not looking at Columbia because its 'dangerous'.. you'll have the same problem in philly what with its sharing borders with west philly. nooot the safest place. annnd it is unfortunately true that no one around the world really knows what 'penn' is unless you say 'wharton'. But, in conclusion, i've definitely enjoyed my time in the ME program here, and i personally extremely appreciated the kind of academic basis it gave me, with the balance of focus in labs and in depth theory. but the surroundings have worn me down enough to say i'm glad to leave for west coast grad school next year.

Wow!!! It's very kind of u to reply so much...so good... and congratulations for your acceptance of Stanford!!!!!!

I've checked the EMTM, but it needs at least 5 years of working experience, so... maybe later.

And accroding to your description, I like to say ME of UPenn is a great place for me. But I need to go to where school's graduates make salaries in the range that I want to make.

So, could you please provide me some information of the range of the salaries that UPenn ME graduates make?

[yyemperor]

It seems that no one cares about this...